Conventional luggage garment bags are provided with a clothes hanger support therein by which conventional coat hangers as well as various types of specialized luggage-type coat hangers may be suspended in the garment bag. Known in the art are those hanger supports of W. London, illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,566,556; Re 31,075; and 4,363,388, all including a suspended bracket which at on end pivotally supports a corresponding end of a generally horizontal lower element. The lower element is pivotal downward slightly to receive conventional coat hanger hook portions between this lower element and the bracket. A latch device carried at the other end of one of the bracket and lower element cooperates with the other of the bracket and lower element to secure the hanger support in a hanger-retaining operative position.
Also known in the pertinent art are those hanger supports of Greg, et al., and Mobley, assigned to Samsonite Corporation, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,618,058; 4,798,289; and 4,880,113, all including a generally C-shaped suspended bracket with a pivotal retention member and latch device. The lower arm of the C-shaped bracket can supportingly receive thereon the hook portions of conventional hangers, while the retention member and latch selectively open or close the opening of the C-shaped bracket to allow loading, unloading or retention of the hangers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,878, is a variation on the foregoing theme with a C-shaped resilient pad carried within the C-shaped bracket and providing a crenelated lower leg and a cooperative foraminous locally more resilient upper leg for position retention of conventional hangers loaded into the hanger support.
Further, also known in the art are the hanger supports taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,850,562, and 4,852,845, assigned to Lenox, Inc., and both including a generally C-shaped suspended bracket. The lower arm of the bracket provides a support surface for conventional hangers, and cooperates with a pivotal latch device carried adjacent the upper bracket arm for both closing the opening of the C-shaped bracket and retaining hanger hook portions therein.
Finally, the pertinent art also includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,270, to Myers, et al., assigned to the same assignee as the present application, and disclosing a hanger support useable with either conventional hangers or with a common variety of luggage-type hanger. In the hanger support of Myers, a suspended bracket pivotally carries an underlying lower jaw member. The jaw member defines a support surface for suspending conventional coat hangers and also carries a depending rail which is engageable by the luggage-type hangers. At aligned ends opposite their pivotal connection, the bracket member and jaw member cooperatively define and carry a latch device for retaining the members in a hanger-retaining relative operative position.
Each of the above-described hanger supports, and others known in the pertinent art, presents a combination of advantages and disadvantages. For example, many of the hanger supports will accept only conventional coat hangers. Yet in some circumstances it is desirable to use the thin, flat luggage-type hangers to allow more clothes to be packed. Frequently, for convenience, and in view of the need to also pack many items of clothing in a piece of luggage, a user will Wish to use both conventional and luggage-type hangers. Only a hanger support according to the Myers patent described above allows a user this flexibility in packing. On the other hand, some of the hanger supports known in the art present other inconveniences in their use. With those hanger supports having a pivotal lower member or jaw, when the hanger support is loaded with clothes on hangers, and is therefore subject to considerable downward weight force if the garment bag is suspended vertically rather than packed in a horizontal position, for example, when the bag is suspended from a door, then the lower member must be physically raised by the user to close the hanger support. This raising of the hanger support lower member or jaw can require considerable force, and can be difficult in view of the limited access to the hanger support afforded by the clothes and hangers already in place on the support. Another common shortcoming in this respect is the disposition of the latch device, or of some part thereof, in an obstructing location of the hanger support. In other words, when the hanger support is open to allow removal of clothing hangers therefrom, or more frequently, to allow insertion of hangers, the latch device is so positioned that it is in the user's way. That is, the latch device may interfere with insertion of hangers into the hanger support, or even more irritatingly, may interfere with both insertion and removal of hangers from the support, so that the hook portion of each hanger must be maneuvered past the latch device onto or from the hanger support.
A further deficiency of conventional hanger supports is that they generally require the fabrication and assembly of many component parts. This multiplicity of component parts increases manufacturing expense, assembly time, chance for error, and opportunity for the hanger support to fail in use by the loosening or disengagement from one another of the plural parts of the assembly.